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Rep. John Garamendi and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Introduce Reform to Strengthen Buy America Requirements for Federal Government

June 25, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Representative John Garamendi (D-CA) today reintroduced the Made in America Act to strengthen Buy America requirements for the federal government in order to support American businesses, manufacturers and workers.

The Made in America Act identifies federal programs that fund infrastructure projects not currently subject to Buy America standards and ensures that materials used in these federal programs, including steel, iron and aluminum, are domestically produced. When certifying that materials used in construction are ‘Made in America,' the bill requires the Department of Commerce to ensure that American jobs are supported.

"Sadly, every year billions of taxpayer dollars are spent on foreign-made materials for infrastructure projects. Our tax dollars should be spent on products and services made in America. That's why Senator Baldwin and I have introduced the Made in America Act. We want good paying middle-class jobs for Americans and our taxpayer dollars to be spent here at home rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure with American materials and workers," said Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA).

"The federal government spends billions of taxpayer dollars on infrastructure projects that are not subject to Buy America requirements. The result is American taxpayer money is being spent to buy foreign products and support workers in other countries. We need to rewrite the rules so we are supporting American businesses and our workers here at home," said Senator Baldwin. "My legislation will strengthen Buy America requirements for the federal government so we are supporting Wisconsin manufacturers and workers. Republicans and Democrats should all agree that our nation's infrastructure should be ‘Made in America.' I'm hopeful my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me in this effort to make sure our government is buying American products and supporting American workers."

This week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report, requested by Senator Baldwin, showing that American taxpayer dollars are more likely to go to foreign firms when they are subject to international trade obligations. Specifically, the report found that when a U.S. government procurement contract is subject to an international agreement (such as NAFTA), the contract is three times more likely to be awarded to a foreign firm.

As previous GAO reports that studied the economic impact of U.S. trade agreements on our Buy America laws made clear, those obligations provide U.S. trading partners more opportunity to win American government procurement work than American businesses receive in return. The Made in America Act would take steps to fix this by ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent on American-made materials created by American workers and businesses.

The Made in America Act is also supported by AFL-CIO, IBEW, BRS (Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen), United Steelworkers, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, the American Foundry Society, the Wisconsin Cast Metals Association, the Forging Industry Association, the Non-Ferrous Founders Society, North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU), and the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC).

In the Senate, the legislation is cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). The House companion legislation is cosponsored by Representatives Harley Rouda (D-CA), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Mark Pocan (D-WI), James P. McGovern (D-MA), Cynthia Axne (D-IA), Gilbert Ray Cisneros, Jr. (D-CA) and Abby Finkenauer (D-IA).

More information on the legislation is available here.

An online version of this release is available here.